Sunday, November 15, 2015

Alan Eisenberg on Trimet's deadly buses

4 comments:

Mr. Eisenburg, if you are reading this, I'm right there with you and as passionate as you are about this issue. Please read my posts in the thread I started on the CPTDB (I'm posting as "roamer") and you will see the numerous times I've ranted and raved about this issue.

I've also mentioned TriMet and Shelly Lomax in several posts ...please see post numbers 61 and 66 on page 4 as well as numerous other posts where I mention Sandi Day. Yes, it's not only a TriMet problem but an issue for all transit agencies in North America. I've attempted to chronicle all the left-turning-bus-pedestrian accidents that have happened recently in the U.S. and Canada.

KCM in Seattle has done one of the better jobs of retrofitting their entire fleet using a lower mounted and smaller left mirror housing ...thanks to Brian Sherlock of Local 587. TriMet should do the same but they won't as according to Shelly Lomax, "there isn't a problem." ATU International is now starting to put pressure on transit agencies (see my citings toward the end of the thread) to start doing something about this.

All who have the time, I urge you to read all my posts in that thread.

To Always Roaming I have addressed this issue with Harry Saporta 2 months ago and now am meeting with him and the Bus Operator Bus Buy Evaluation Continuous Improvement Team (BOCIT) next month. You are right about Brian Sherlock and the ATU International. Its an issue that cannot be swept under the carpet no longer. They all know its a hazard. It is a problem that needs to be addressed and fixed ASAP. Dora Morgan

Please keep the pressure on TriMet management, Dora. I have no association with TriMet (other than they didn't think I had the "personality," according to the test they gave at the time, to drive a city bus some 40-years ago when I applied there) but it makes me extremely angry to have Shelly Lomax testify in that deposition that she doesn't "think the mirror is an issue."

Even though I believe they did get rid of the hideously large left mirror they used at one time, they still use a larger-than-necessary left mirror mounted at a position that still obstructs a driver's vision. I now believe that KCM in Seattle has the best solution (even better than a top-mounted left mirror) which resulted from Sherlock's study and research (again, like THIS). If you can get TriMet to adopt Sherlock's design, all the better. I retired about the time that the retrofit started and it made a world of difference to drive a bus that had the new smaller and lower-mounted left mirror ...try to get TriMet to mount the mirror in as low a position as possible.

Yes when I saw the new Gilligs that Trimet purchased I was aghsat.The fix is easy but ah those yakking buses that people with headphones on don't hear! This is a matter of life and death and we(operators) and citizens alike must pressure transit districts that refuse to recognize the problem. Seems we have a bunch of stone cold morons on the management team here. I can't understand their denial. Keep up the great work !!!!